“Graduation ceremonies, slightly modified as far as the popular concept is concerned, were in order at Santa Anita yesterday. Ed Janss’ Boxthorn was promoted from a Class C to a Class A horse in Mr. Racing Secretary Webb Everett’s latest book on graded handicaps.

Boxthorn never was a Class C thoroughbred from the time Col. E. R. Bradley attempted to win his fifth Kentucky Derby with the Blue Larkspur colt in 1935, but Boxthorn bowed a tendon that summer and went out of circulation.

The chances being only one in twenty that a horse ever recovers from such an ailment to become a topnotcher again, you cannot hold it against Mr. Everett that in the first issue of his grades Boxthorn was found with the C boys and girls.

And in addition to the fact that he hadn’t run for eighteen months Boxthorn was purchased by Janss to become a stallion on his Conejo ranch. He was going into stud. He was supposed to be through with the race track.

But what does this $5000 bargain do but thrive on our “unusual” Southern California weather. He gets to running like the dickens again, wins a Class C six furlongs by six lengths in 1:11 over a dull track, and follows this up with an easy victory in the $3500 San Felipe Handicap, beating some of the best horses at the track. Time, 1:23 3/5 for seven furlongs.

So in the third issue of the graded handicap list which Everett changes periodically Boxthorn has gone to the top of the list occupied by only fourteen others at Santa Anita – Accolade, Firethorn, Indian Broom, King Saxon, Mr. Bones, Ned Reigh, Red Rain, Rosemont, Seabiscuit, Singing Wood, Stand Pat, Time Supply, Top Row and Where Away.

Boxthorn, which has come out of his two races in splendid condition, will now be pointed for one more engagement before his test in the $100,000 added Santa Anita Handicap on February 27.

The $7500 San Antonio Handicap, a mile and one furlong race, will be the test of Boxthorn’s route running ability.

As a 3-year-old the former Bradley color bearer never indicated a desire to go beyond a mile. He raced rankly in the Kentucky Derby after setting some of the early pace, and in the Preakness he was away out in front until the field moved around the far turn. He had nothing left for the last quarter.

After that the Bradley connections placed him in sprint races, and he did well, his best score being made in the Commonwealth Stakes. It was following this victory that he bowed a tendon and returned to the Idle Hour Farm. But now that he’s older Trainer Grayson Philpott believes Boxthorn will run farther.” (Paul Lowry / Los Angeles Times, 01/26/1937)

“Tremont, known in his racing days as ‘The Black Whirlwind,’ is dead at Belle Meade. In some unaccountable manner, he broke his stifle Thursday, and yesterday when the veterinarian looked at him, it was decided best that he be destroyed to put him out of his misery.

Tremont, was bred at Elmendorff [sic] stud, by the late Daniel Swigert, and was by Virgil, son of Vandal, out of Ann Fief, by Alarm. He ran eleven races as a 2-year-old, winning them all, and earning the title given him above. Early in his 3-year-old career and before he had faced the flag, he developed a ring-bone. He was the property of the Dwyers, and his career had been such a phenomenal one that Mr. Swigert paid $25,000 for him and took him back to Kentucky. At the Elmendorff [sic], disposal sale, some years later, Gen. Jackson bought the unbeaten stallion, paying $17,500 for him. Since that time he has been domiciled at Belle Meade.

Tremont’s get were numerous, but the best of them were Dogonet [sic] and Lovelace. El Telegrafo also gave promise at one time of being a wonder.

The dead stallion was of a highly nervous temperament. He was almost unmanageable, often kicking his barn until he was exhausted. It is presumed he met with the accident which cost him his life during one of these tantrums.” (The Nashville American, 03/04/1899)

“Edward Riley Bradley’s Brooklyn is rated at the head of the list at 126 pounds in the Experimental Handicap weights fixed by Jack Campbell, official handicapper of The Jockey Club and published in the current issue of “The Racing Calendar,” official organ of the The Jockey Club. Campbell considers Brooklyn one pound better than J. H. Louchhiem’s Pompoon, while still another pound lower comes Reaping Reward.

Brookyn is a well-made colt by Blue Larkspur – Knockaney Bridge, an Irish mare. Brooklyn started only four times and won two races, including the Walden Handicap. He finished third to Privilege and Matey in the Pimlico Futurity, but was moved up to second place on the disqualification of the winner.

Pompoon won six out of eight starts, including The Futurity at Belmont Park and the Junior Champion Stakes at Aqueduct. He is the leading money-winning two-year-old with a total of $83,420. Reaping Reward won five out of fifteen starts, including the United States Hotel Stakes at Saratoga Springs and the New England Futurity, in which he came from behind to beat Pompoon by a neck. He is by Sickle – Dustwhirl, by Sweep.

Case Ace, winner of the Arlington Futurity, is placed at 123 pounds, while Privileged, second in the Futurity at Belmont Park, is next, together with Bottle Cap at 122. War Admiral, highly regarded by many handicappers, follows at 121.

Apogee, winner of the Fashion Stakes at Belmont Park and the Lassie Stakes at Arlington, is rated the best of the fillies under 112 pounds [NOTE: The honor actually belonged to the Insco filly Rifted Clouds at 115 pounds]. Goldey F., winner of eleven out of fourteen starts, and Wand, a winner of only three out of four, which, however, included the Matron Stakes in which Apogee was unplaced, are put at 110 each. Apogee led fillies in earnings with $33,965.

Talma Dee, winner of the Selima Stakes, is listed at 108 pounds, one less than Maecloud, well thought of during the Saratoga Springs meeting.” (New York Herald Tribune, 12/10/1936)

“Jack Campbell has proved himself a master in rating and handicapping horses, so that any of us who are wondering why he put E. R. Bradley’s Brooklyn at the top of his Experimental Handicap should withhold criticism until such time as his judgment is proved sound or unsound.

One of the charms of racing is the difference of opinion which constantly arises in the rating of horses. Personally, my regard for Brooklyn, son of Blue Larkspur, is high as expressed in this column two or three weeks ago. He runs like a stayer and is a bright prospect for our historic three-year-old stakes next season. Still, on my rating he is below Reaping Reward, Pompoon, Case Ace, Privileged, War Admiral, and Matey; not above this group. The difference in poundage is not much but all of six pounds under Reaping Reward, which happens to be my top colt.

Just before The Futurity was run I was standing on the roof of the stand at Belmont Park with Jack Campbell, who remarked: “Pompoon is almost sure to prove himself the best colt of the year in the next two or three minutes,” and none could question this when the son of Pompey raced to commanding victory.

Later Reaping Reward came from behind to beat Pompoon in the New England Futurity, but that did not change Campbell’s rating. It is a little surprising then that he puts Brooklyn at the top in considering the fact that the last named won only two races in four starts, including one stake – the Walden Handicap, in which he beat No Sir a length at a difference of only four pounds.

Plainly, Campbell’s Experimental Handicap is not a rating of the two-year-olds as they raced this season, but rather a declaration of what he thinks about their chances as three-year-olds.

The Experimental Handicap, of course, is never run. It is like the Free Handicap of England, simply an expression by the official handicapper of how he thinks the horses should be weighed as if for a race in the future.

Campbell thus boldly calls Brooklyn the best prospect for next season, and he may be right. Such a good judge as Tom Shaw expressed the opinion a few days ago that Reaping Reward and Pompoon should be equal favorites at 10 to 1 each for the Kentucky Derby and quoted Brooklyn at 15 to 1.

When the future books are opened Campbell’s rating may influence the quotations and make Brooklyn the choice or close to it. It will be interesting to see.

Incidentally, in the Experimental Handicap a year ago Red Rain was in the post of honor, with Bold Venture in tenth place six pounds away and Granville in thirty-fifth place at the light weight of 113 pounds. The form of horses oftentimes change in a surprising way from one season to another.” (George Daley / New York Herald Tribune, 12/14/1936)

“From every conceivable angle the turf season of 1925 was one of the most disappointing in the history of the thoroughbred sport in this country. The year did not develop one outstanding champion and in the class of horseflesh, such as it was, there was no vestige of form.

American Flag, the three-year-old son of Man o’ War, and Pompey, the son of Sun Briar and Cleopatra, were awarded class honors in the three-year-old and two-year-old divisions, respectively. They seemed worthy of such distinction. Samuel Riddle’s great Man o’ War colt, in what little racing he did, had all the others of his class almost as badly whipped as had his illustrious sire during his three-year-old and last campaign. He won the Belmont, third and last of the $50,000 spring three-year-old classics, in a common gallop, yet in time that equaled the Belmont Park track record for the distance.

Yet the fact that American Flag broke down while at Saratoga showed he was a thoroughbred with a fault, which could not be said of his sire. Certainly he was not pounded down in racing. No three-year-old had a milder campaign.

Generally the three-year-olds were a common lot. Silver Fox, of the Rancocas Stable, showed real promise early in the season, but against opposition scarcely up to mediocre ability. The Preakness and the Kentucky Derby, $50,000 stakes that preceded the Belmont, were both won by rank outsiders that would have paid in box car numbers had they not been parts of fields with better horses. Strange to say, both of these horses belonged to Gifford A. Cochran.

Clarence Kummer rode Coventry in the Preakness. This horse was a cripple when he went to the post, and indeed did break down in the stretch, but he was so far in front at the time Kummer was able to whip him home. As a matter of fact, Coventry never would have been so far out in front but for a bad jam at the paddock turn caused by Johnny Maiben with Maid at Arms that piled up and eliminated all the dangerous ones of the field.

Gifford A. Cochran, who took the Preakness with Coventry, also won the Kentucky Derby with Flying Ebony, which he entered at the last moment to provide a ride for Sande. Flying Ebony was right that day and won on merit. But the fact that the horse showed little else all season proves what a rather poor lot the three-year-olds were – bar only American Flag.

Pompey clinched his right to the title in the juvenile division by winning both the Hopeful and the Futurity. He was somewhat lucky not to be disqualified in the Futurity, for he plainly crowded Canter, which in turn crowded Chance Play. Pompey seemed straight at the end of this seven furlongs, though he looks to be a stayer and should be dangerous in the long three-year-old classics of next spring.

Canter is a good colt though an unfortunate one. He looked a real champion in winning the Pimlico Futurity and he looked a champion in Kentucky earlier. Bubbling Over in the Pimlico Futurity could not hold a long lead safe from Canter and proved a sprinter solely. Haste ran such a race in the Futurity.

Mad Play was the champion of the sprinters and a champion that stood out prominently in a poor lot. Of course this is taking nothing away from the game little horse of the Rancocas stable. He usually was burdened with staggering weight, but always he would run as courageously as any horse that ever wore plates.

Samuel D. Riddle, who earned such fame with Man o’ War a few years ago, was the leading money winner among the owners. His success was due solely to the get of Man o’ War and particularly to American Flag’s $50,000 in the Belmont.

Mortensen was the leading jockey of the year. But the real sensation in the riding line was the spectacular come-back of Jockey Earl Sande.” (New York Herald Tribune, 12/27/1925)

“I hope you will have as good success with this mare as you have had with Hoodoo,” said John B. Ewing to Dr. M. W. Williams, of Williams & Bradford, owners of the Adelbert Stud, Hopkinsville, when Miss Crawford was knocked down to him at the Fasig-Tipton sale last week in Lexington, KY.

“I thank you,” replied Dr. Williams, “but to own another mare her equal as a producer is beyond my expectations. If Miss Crawford brings me one-fourth the returns I have had from Hoodoo I shall be highly gratified. Do you know that Hoodoo cost us only $275, and that she has brought us over $40,000? Yes, sir, she has, and another remarkable thing about her history is that she was mated eleven consecutive seasons with old imported Albert and never missed producing a foal.”

The writer, interested at this statement, asked Dr. Williams further concerning the remarkable daughter of imported Darebin and Miss Clay by Hindoo.

“Hoodoo was bred by J. B. Haggin at Rancho del Paso in California,” said Dr. Williams. “She was foaled in 1889 and was sold as a yearling to Pierre Lorillard. For some reason, possibly because of the fact that she is by Darebin and comes from the family of Miss Woodford, Belle of Runnymeade, Hoodoo’s second dam, being a full sister to the once queen of the turf, she was not trained and was put into the Rancocas Stud and mated with The Sailor Prince as a 2-year-old in 1891. Her first foal was a colt in 1892. I do not know what became of him. In 1893 she had no foal. In 1894 she produced Try Again by The Sailor Prince, and in 1895 Rabbit Foot, by the same horse. These never amounted to anything.

In the winter of 1894-1895 Mr. Lorillard had a weeding out sales of the Rancocas Stud, and I bought Hoodoo for $275. In the spring of 1895 I mated her with imp. Albert, which good horse I had bought for $2,500, virtually a song, a short while before. Hoodoo’s foal from this union was Jinks in 1896. I sold her to Capt. W. H. May for $100, and “Bub” May trained her. In two seasons she started thirty-eight times, won eighteen races and won $8,035, but not all of it for Capt. May. He sold Jinks to Pat Dunne for $3,000. From him she passed to Barney Schreiber, then to Sidney Paget and then to W. C. Whitney, who sent her to England in 1902 and bred her to Donovan. The foal in 1903 was a chestnut colt that died. In 1904 Jinks produced Killaloe, by Kilmarnock, and in the season of 1906 and 1907 she won $12,485 for Harry Payne Whitney, and I believe is now in his Brookdale Stud, in New Jersey, along with Jinks.

Hoodoo’s next foal was Mesmerist, in 1897. I sold him as a yearling to A. Featherstone (they were racing then as Bromley & Co.) for $1,250. He was the champion 2-year-old of 1889, winning the Foam, the Double Event (second half) – had been defeated by John Madden’s Prince of Melbourne for the first half. The Dash, the Autumn, the Great Eastern and the Junior Champion were also won by him. In all, he won nine races, three seconds and one third, and $48,175 for his thirteen starts that year.

Mr. Featherstone, as I remember it, refused an offer of $70,000 for Mesmerist in the winter of 1899, and I refused Mr. Lorillard’s offer of $10,000 for Hoodoo about the same time. Mesmerist was a disappointment in 1900 and 1901, made only nine starts during the two years and did not win.

Mr. Featherstone also bought the next four foals by Albert and Hoodoo, they being Mintage, $6,000; Hatasoo, $5,600; Mesmer, $5,800, and Komombo, $4,500. Mintage never won a race; Hatasoo, speedy and reliable, won nine races and $16,675 for her sixteen starts in two seasons. As a 2-year-old she won the Vernal, and as a 3-year-old the New Rochelle, the Clermont, Coney Island Handicap, Swift, Brighton Oaks and Flying Handicap. She has two foals, Raquel and Effendi, racing this year, and the former is a winner.

Mesmer was a disappointment. He raced two seasons, but did not win. Komombo raced five seasons and won five races, yet she did not earn as much as she cost. The late W. C. Whitney paid me $7,700 for Ranger. He raced four seasons and won only one race. P. J. Dwyer bought Albert F., the next foal, for $3,500. He paid his way. Adelbert Belle was the next. Julius Bauer got her for $2,000. She is a winner and is still racing. Carlton was the next. P. J. Dwyer bought him for $2,500. He made his first start this year as a 3-year-old but has yet to win. Spellbound, the last foal from the union of Albert and Hoodoo, is now a 2-year-old. J. L. McGinnis bought him for $2,000, and he has won four races and $1,710 out of eleven starts.

After Spellbound was foaled I retired old Albert (he is now 27, but healthy and full of life), and mated Hoodoo with Ornus, the sire of Oiseau, and I sold her yearling colt by him this year to Joe S. Hawkins for $1,200. I have a fine weanling colt by the same young horse out of her at home, and she is again in foal to Ornus.”

Dr. Williams’ record of the amounts for which the produce of this remarkable mare were sold shows the total to be $42, 150, as follows:

A perusal of the racing guides produces the following for the turf performances of the eleven sons and daughters of Albert and Hoodoo, showing that they have collectively won forty-eight races and $83,310.

In addition to this there are the winnings of Hoodoo’s granddaughters, Killaloe, $12,485, and Raquel, $515. It is one of the very best producing records to be found in the American Stud Book, and probably stands alone for successive mating with one sire.”(The Nashville American, 12/12/1908)

In 1874, the Schreiber & Sons photography studio released Portraits of Noted Horses of America, a collection of photographs of select Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds of the day. The prescient purpose of this collection was stated in the book’s preface:

“In offering to the public the first book of this kind ever published, we are carrying out the suggestions of several eminent breeders who have examined our collection of photographs, and who have declared them to be the best pictures of horses ever produced. This is a point on which each admirer of good horses may judge for himself. The pictures are all taken from life, and present every animal just as they actually appear when at rest, which is the posture every horseman desires to examine a horse in when studying his various points of form.
…
The value of such pictures as these is not alone in the pleasure and profit they afford to the present, but will increase with years, indefinitely, becoming an interesting part of history that can be relied on as perfectly accurate.”